Young Jews place memory plaques, after signing them, on railway tracks at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp, in Oswiecim on April 19, as they take part in the annual "March of the Living". The annual March of the Living, which commemorates the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust, was launched in 1988, drawing thousands of people from around the world, including Jewish youths and elderly Holocaust survivors.

President Barack Obama released a statement on Thursday honoring the Jewish day of remembrance Yom HaShoah. Hebrew for "destruction," the word "shoah" is often used in reference to the Holocaust, and Yom HaShoah is the day on the Jewish calendar commemorating the 6 million Jews who died at the hands of Nazi Germany.

"On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, I join people of all faiths across the United States, in Israel and around the world in paying tribute to all who suffered in the Shoah - a horrific crime without parallel in human history," Obama said in his statement.

Yom HaShoa, held on the 27th of Nisan on the Jewish calendar, also honors the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.

"We stand in awe of those who fought back, in the ghettos and in the camps, against overwhelming odds. And in the year of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Raoul Wallenberg, we are humbled by the rescuers who refused to be bystanders to evil," Obama said, referencing the Swedish businessman and diplomat credited with standing up to the fascist Hungarian government while stationed in Budapest.

As Jews around the world hold vigils and name-reading ceremonies in memory of those who died, Obama called on everyone to do more to ensure that the phrase "never again" is more than just an "empty slogan."

"As individuals, we must guard against indifference in our hearts and recognize ourselves in our fellow human beings," Obama said. "As societies, we must stand against ignorance and anti-Semitism, including those who try to deny the Holocaust. As nations, we must do everything we can to prevent and end atrocities in our time."

The president said he will visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on Monday in an effort to advance these goals.

soundoff(21 Responses)

23 from texas

Unfortunately it’s still happening today. We slaughter hundreds of thousands of people each and every year. Abortion is today’s holocaust. It’s sick and disgusting that we continue to allow this and abhor what happen to other people that had the same fate.

April 19, 2012 at 6:52 pm |

Steveo

AGREED!

April 19, 2012 at 6:54 pm |

Mark

Nice work politicizing this! Especially with such a weak argument! Seriously, the world needs more people like you to sully the memory of the suffering of millions! Good job!

April 19, 2012 at 8:16 pm |

anon

You really think that aborting fetuses is the same thing as rounding up people and throwing them into gas chambers? You are sick.

April 19, 2012 at 11:21 pm |

Festus B. Damba-Mbayo

The United States of America is another country of holocaust tendencies.Interferance and killing of innocent people in the form of neo-colonialism is their stock-in-trade.It is still happening out superiority and the new world order.

April 19, 2012 at 7:08 pm |

theebl

http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/04/rip-to-victims-of-holocaust-never.html Never Again. Never forget.

April 19, 2012 at 7:49 pm |

Thinker23

Abortion can only be considered to be killing if the fetus is believed to be a living human being. No one argues that after separating from the mother's womb the baby is a living human. The question is when the fetus TURNS into a human. Is a one-month-old fetus already a human? If so WHY NOT A SPERMATOZOID? After all, a spermatozoid will also develop into a human under favorable circumstances...

April 19, 2012 at 8:43 pm |

CaliLiberal

We also slaughter hundreds of thousands of living children through gun violence, we let poor children die from lack of healthcare, we let their mothers die of cancer because we close all of their health facilities down claiming we're broke but can afford $4 billion a year in oil subsidies. That is today's holocaust.

April 19, 2012 at 10:20 pm |

jerry

you must be in Africa...certainly not here in America...unless you believe America haters like Mz obama.

April 19, 2012 at 10:28 pm |

anon

While I agree that those are problems, they are not the same as the holocaust. The holocaust was the destruction of European Jewry via mass murder. You cheapen the deaths of all of the Nazis victims by making this comparison.

Nobody should invoke the name of the holocaust, or compare people to Hitler/Nazis so casually.

April 19, 2012 at 11:23 pm |

23 from texas

Gun violence is not Legal, and the government does not think it is acceptable... so I am not sure if you are trying to make play on my comment but if you are it is seriously flawed... also, I believe women can get care just as easily as men can... Pick a clinic that is not closed down. The oil subsidies should go though, there you are right on. Along with the rest of the tax code! Flat tax for all businesses with NO loopholes or special interest groups!

April 20, 2012 at 7:59 pm |

Ralpj

When do you get to remember the millions of others who died? Oh wait they are just gemts and they don't matter.

April 20, 2012 at 12:07 am |

Carol100

If I have a dog it would look like the one Obama ate.

April 20, 2012 at 5:24 am |

don

ok lets see if ol mitt jumps in. Obama 2012

April 20, 2012 at 11:28 am |

Howard

Since Obama has alienated the Jewish people, with the way he has continually disrespected Israel, he's now trying to win back their votes, with photo ops, like this one.

April 20, 2012 at 12:58 pm |

rudy

obama 2012

April 20, 2012 at 5:42 pm |

23 from texas

That was meant as a joke right?? lol it sure made me leagh. 😀

April 20, 2012 at 8:02 pm |

r jackson

thank you mr. president

April 20, 2012 at 5:43 pm |

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August 7, 2012 at 11:39 am |

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